Because I’m too much of a punk to compile a “Best of” list—and never feel I’ve read enough of the year’s top contenders to make a decent one—I’m continuing what’s become a bit of an annual tradition… I’ve compiled…

…A LIST OF THINGS THAT I READ IN 2012!

Get excited!

A bunch of books and me at Emerald City Comicon.

Two years ago, I started doing this instead of a “Best of” list because I’d read a ton, but so much of it was older stuff—stuff that hadn’t come out in 2010. I liked compiling the list, seeing how much I read, when during the year I read most, what kind of trends my reading went through, etc etc… Without initially realizing it, I’d figured out a pretty interesting way to study myself as a reader. So, I did it again two years ago and again last year.

This time around, each completed book was added to a running list before I put it away on the shelf. Adding the book to a list, I think, led to an extra sense of completion and accomplishment each time I finished a book. I usually opened a new one and started reading it as soon as the old one was added to the list.

The FLCL Omnibus with a note from editor Philip Simon.

Anywho, here’s a list of the 70 graphic novels and books I read last year. It was mostly pleasure reading, but some of it was for work…

2012 Reading List: GRAPHIC NOVELSJANUARY
The New York Five [DC/Vertigo]

Batman: Noel [DC]

The Authority: The Lost Year—Book One [DC/Wildstorm]

Whiteout: Melt [Oni Press]

Fire [Image] (by Bendis)

Channel Zero [AiT/Planet Lar]

Channel Zero: Jennie One [AiT/Planet Lar]

Spera [Archaia]

The New York Four [DC/Minx]

FEBRUARY
Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Promise – Part One [Dark Horse]

All in all, I think this year was about consuming a lot of books and trying to make sure they were different kinds of books. I’ve had some pretty superhero-heavy years, a very Dark Horse-heavy year (I did a lot of brushing up on the DH stuff during my first year on the job.), some personal research-heavy years, but this one seemed to feature a lot of mixing it up. I don’t know if it was necessarily due to the content this year, but I enjoyed reading more this year. Throwing some prose into the mix after a long dry spell of novels really infused some life into my reading habits. It felt like I was stretching some old muscles and it felt good. It made the world of books feel a bit more infinite than it felt over the past two years when I’d become so focused on comics—something that felt essential to succeeding at work. This year, I definitely learned that disparate reading can be the most rewarding way to read, especially when reading is part of your job.

I’m curious to see what new reading habits 2013 will lead to. The current trend is grabbing any book off the shelf that has a bookmark stabbed into and finishing that sucker off. It kinda feels like cheating, adding them to the list, but it feels good to take care of unfinished business.

Here’s a photo I took of Obi-Wan Kenobi getting arrested at Comic-Con, because why not?!